Puritan Sonnet

Elinor Wylie

Down to the Puritan Marrow of my bones

There's something in this richness that I hate.

I love the look, austere, immaculate,

Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones.

There's something in my very blood that owns

Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate,

A thread of water, churned to milky spate¹

Streaming through slanted pastures fenced with stones.

I love those skies, thin blue or snowy gray,

Those fields sparse-planted, rendering meager sheaves;

That spring, briefer than apple blossom's breath,

Summer, so much too beautiful to stay,

Swift autumn, like a bonfire of leaves,

And sleepy winter, like the sleep of death.

1. Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem

2. Complete a scansion on 3 lines of the poem. (Identify line length and meter--like the example from "Shall I Compare thee to a Summer's Day). 

There's some/thing in/ my ver/y blood/ that owns

Bare hills/, cold sil/ver on/ a sky/ of slate,

A thread/ of wat/er, churned/ to milk/y spate¹

10 syllables 5 feet with unstressed and then stressed.

3. Identify at least 5 images in the poem (Try to find images that appeal to different senses)

The image is an auditory.

Visual

Tactile

Visual

Olfactory

4. Identify the problem (situation) and solution in the sonnet

The problem is that there is too much beauty.

The solution is that beauty lasts only for a short time.

5. Define the words austere, immaculate, and sheaves

6. Identify four sound devices in the poem (assonance, alliteration, consonance)

assonance: meager sheaves

alliteration: apple blossom's breath

consonance: Bare hills, cold silver

7. What is the speaker's attitude toward the New England  winter landscape?

The speaker loves the New England winter landscape.

8. What view of life does the poem present?

The poem shows the simple and calmness of life.